Sword, rapier, dagger.
These are just a few of Michael Polak’s tools of the trade.
Luckily, he’s not a maniac on the loose — rather, the CSUF grad (theater arts 1993) is an actor as well as a stage and film fight choreographer.
Polak’s work recently was on display in South Coast Repertory’s production of “Appropriate,” the Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play that premiered off-Broadway in 2014.
In a climactic scene in “Appropriate,” which alternated performances with Lillian Helman’s “The Little Foxes” Feb. 5-26, estranged members of a family in present-day Arkansas with decades of resentment and pent-up anger get into a brawl.
“One thing I always ask myself is, ‘What is the story being told through violence?’ ” said Polak, whose recent film work as an actor includes “Mid-Century” (2022) starring Stephen Lang (the “Avatar” franchise).
How did a nice guy like Polak get into such a (fake) bone-breaking career?
At Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta in Santa Barbara County, Polak loved both theater and football — he played quarterback as a senior for the Chargers.
The physicality of stage movement always has appealed to him.
“Violence is another form of communication — it’s a terrible form of communication, but it happens when words break down,” said Polak, a fight choreographer for more than 20 years who’s a big fan of the intricately choreographed action movie series “John Wick,” starring Keanu Reeves.
Big lesson
It’s not that Polak has a thing for violence. He just specializes in having it faked on stage and on screen. And he honed his skills, in part, at CSUF.
While attending Dos Pueblos High School, Polak’s acting professor took him and other students on tours of four-year colleges with solid theater departments.
“I remember being impressed with Cal State Fullerton,” he said.
Sallie Mitchell, the former professor of theater and dance at CSUF, was instrumental in getting Polak to switch his major to…
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